Lake Michigan Credit Union

A Red Flag
- mellogirl5 - Tuesday, June 21, 2011 - 1:26 PM

I've been generally satisfied with LMCU. However, one recent negative experience I feel is worth highlighting.

In order to qualify for the "4% Max Checking" - 4% monthly interest return on checking accounts of >$15,000 - one must have at least 10 monthly debit card transactions. My debit card was stolen on the 21st of the month at which point I only had 6 transactions. One rep. told me LMCU's policy was to waive that requirement in the event of a lost/stolen card due to an inability to reach the threshold number (a new card takes 7-10 days to arrive). Then, I was told this is not the case and I must still meet the 10 transaction minimum because a lost/stolen card is "not their error". My noting that a stolen card is also not my error seemed to fall on deaf ears. 

Between the inconsistency in communication on LMCU policy and the apathetic tone of the bank manager, I was sufficiently irritated to post this experience. 

Check Holding Is Applied With Ambiguity
- raphael2012 - Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 10:26 AM

My business account is with Lake Michigan Credit Union.  The policy of holding checks from my customers for an ambiguous amount of time makes it difficult to avoid overdrafts as my account balance fluctuates as overdraft protection was not made available.  Sometimes the hold is for 2 days, which is acceptable or it may be up to nine days.  The amount of the check does not seem to matter.  It was explained to me that the hold time is up to the teller who is waiting on me.  What seems to be the case is that new tellers who do not recognize me will hold for longer days.  I would not recommend this credit union for small business as they seem to have policies that are not small business friendly. 

Exorbitant Fees And Poor Customer Service
- glvelting - Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - 2:23 PM

I have been with this bank over 10 years and their service continues to decline while their fees continue to climb.

 

No longer a fan!  Potential customers beware!!  Their fees will rake you over the coals and their client service representatives are anything but friendly.

Excellent Service And Rates
- Anonymous - Sunday, October 17, 2010 - 8:28 AM

I have been with this bank for over 15 years and it has been my best experience in banking.  I don't live near the bank anymore but I still bank with them.  Direct deposit and online banking make it easy.  They pay the interest every month I have not had any major problems banking here.  I would recommend them to anyone.

Bank Had Four Tries Too Keep Me, But I Have A Checking Acct. With No Checks. :-(
- Sansher - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - 7:37 PM

I recently moved into the area from another state, the bank facility is right across the street from where I work, and I wanted to get a relationship with a local bank. First visit picked up the ppwk, they made a copy of my license. Teller seemed a bit sarcastic to me. Second visit  had all the ppwk made out, but they didn't like that my drivers license was out of state (been here less than a month). They told me to bring in the lease to my apartment. Third trip brought in lease. Opened account. Then when at home I was going to order some checks, discovered that I don't have sample checks and dont have a routing number. Thought that sample checks were omitted by mistake. Fourth trip asked for sample checks, was told that I had to have $100.00 in the checking account. I have $750.00 in the account which is a retirement check from the State of Florida. Was told the check was on hold for a week and so there is no money in checking account. Asked for routing number which is what they gave me. Have a checking account with no checks. Not satisfied. I have $$$$ to deposit into a local bank, but if they can't handle $750.00 how will they do with 20K? Not good. Looked online lots of complaints on this bank in the 'dont like services' category, also with the BBB. Do not plan to follow this relationship up any further. Have been with a Credit Union in Fla for 17+ years and am extremely happy with them, there are other credit unions in Kalamazoo. I will be with one of them (and so will my money)

Disorganized And Mediocre Customer Survice.
- jksfhsdkjdfsk - Monday, December 26, 2011 - 11:30 AM

I moved to the Grand Rapids area and needed to transfer my accounts to a local CU.  For my auto loan, faxed documents were lost on 3 occasions cauysing the closing of the loan to take 3 weeks.  My debit card was also "lost" in the mail on their first attempt to send it.  It took over a month to receive the debit card.  Their 24x7 customer service only seems to apply to weekdays.  If you lose your online banking account info, you must call in to the call center to have it reset.  Overall I regret switching, it would have been less hassle to just drive the 2 hours round trip to do business with my old CU.  

ATM Issues
- superflan - Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - 3:55 PM

I am not a member of Lake Michigan CU, but they have an ATM in close proximity to my home. Before Lake Michigan took over that location, it belonged to another credit union. The previous credit union's ATM was a member of the CREDIT UNION CO-OP NETWORK. For some reason, Lake Michigan Credit Union is not. This has proved to be a major inconvenience for me, as I now have to drive out of my way every time I need to use an ATM...because none of the other co-op ATMs are anywhere near where I frequent. It's just annoying, and I'm wondering why a credit union would not be a part of the credit union co-op network. Certainly will not be joining Lake Michigan anytime soon.

Overall Good Experience
- lindsd33 - Sunday, March 13, 2011 - 5:37 PM

I have been with LMCU since 1998 and have been satisfied with their service.  They are sympathetic to extenuating circumstances and have been willing to waive almost all overdraft fees.

Very Satisfied
- jheffer5 - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - 9:36 AM

I opened my account with LMCU two years ago and have seen great improvements from my previous institution. Fees are less, I get paid interest for my checking, and the service is friendly. I just purchased a home and recieved my mortgage from LMCU, and have even purchased a car from their lot in Hudsonville. Great rates, great savings, quality products. I also priced my homeowners insurance with four different providers and Lake Michigan Insurance Agency provided me with the best rate/policy by far. All in all, LMCU is a great value for your dollar, and I love it.

Poor Customer Service
- khurley1978 - Monday, March 26, 2012 - 2:51 PM

Just thought people looking for a bank would like to hear this about LMCU.  We have bought two cars and had a line of credit open through lake michigan credit union.  Recently I returned to school and we entered a debt consolidation program.  We completely paid off the car loans with never missing a payment and almost finished the line of credit when we entered the program.  It took a month for LMCU to start recieving payments and apparently they charged late fees and interest on top of this.  We were unaware until recently but every month for a year they have been charging interest and late fees on that gap and now we owe $500.00 in a back payment!  We now owe a total of $830 almost the same although they have been recieving $124 a month from the consolidation agreement.  On top of taking that they have been reporting it to credit agency every month.  They are the only one of the eight creditors we have on our consolidation program and will do nothing to stop the fees and the late reporting.  Shameless robbery of their own clients!

 

Excellent Customer Service
- mikey014 - Monday, September 10, 2012 - 11:12 AM

Very easy to monitor whether you will qualify for their rewards interest for the month because they have a "Status" link on the checking. You can see how many transactions you've had processed. That makes everything so much smoother. :) I love that. I love the online chat feature as well.

Great bank. I don't live in MI but it is super easy to bank with them! :) Love them!

Getting A Loan!!
- reneeeisenhower - Tuesday, September 25, 2012 - 1:46 PM

This bank has been nothing but a pain in the butt. Not only has this bank taken the maximum in closing our loan but has asked us basically everything but who my mom is. I will never bank with them again. I have also heard through several other people I have talked with since our encounter that they are extremely unhappy with lmcu as well. Statitics say for every one person's complaint there are 10 people behind them just as unhappy. Public beware that this Bank or "credit union" is very poorly run and to which they do not care about you or your concerns! I have also talked with several other Banks to which they are suprised in how long it has taken lmcu to conduct our loan. So this tells me really, how poor of business this is. But who cares right?! Business's this big making as much money as they do don't care about some one like us or me unless we have lots to offer them, like them not making oddles of money off of our loans is not enough!! What has happend to America and her intergrity and honor in businesses? Becuase I can't find it any where I look. Shame on you lmcu, shame on you for being one of those companies! They get only 1 star but really should get none!

Overall Happy
- RunnerMom4 - Friday, January 20, 2012 - 10:15 PM

I have had an over all good exspereance with LMCU. The only complaint that I have is that I am not fond of the format that they have for thier online banking. It is a tad hard to understand.

Disorganized And Unhelpful
- cgladstone - Thursday, February 28, 2013 - 4:30 PM

I don't do all of my banking with LMCU, just my auto loan, which I acquired 5 months ago. I have had nothing but trouble with LMCU since then, unfortunately. About 3 months into my loan, LMCU suddenly mailed me a document stating they were charging a $300+ fee to my loan due to insufficient insurance. My insurance was exactly up to their code and they had been given the proper information from day one, as proven by my insurance provider, but they claimed to never receive it (odd that they'd wait a whole 3 months to pursue that if it WERE truly the case, though!). Once this had been sorted out, I requested proof that this was resolved, which LMCU did promptly mail me. However, about a month later, I received yet another notice, once again suggesting that I had insufficient insurance, even though it had now been provided to them twice. After much wasted time and a lot of frustration, I was assured this was resolved again and so far (a month later) I have not gotten any more notices about that. I did, however, just receive a late payment notice today for a payment that I had made well before the due date, but which LMCU claims not to have gotten until 16 days later. Despite having my bank's statement to prove the payment was on time, they refused to work with me on this and would not remove the late fee, saying there is no way to override or waive it at this point (which is completely untrue) and either I would have to pay the fee myself, or have my primary banking institution pay the fee for me, since LMCU claims it was the fault of my bank, not LMCU. I've banked with my bank (Huntington) for a decade and have never once had a problem with my bill pay and considering my only experiences with LMCU so far consists of them repeatedly losing pertinent information on my account, I know that this is an error on the part of LMCU, and not my mistake, nor my bank's mistake (Huntington). I am now contacting an attorney, because I refuse to let their lack of professionalism ruin my great credit history. I would never recommend LMCU to anyone.

Great Customer Service And Rates
- elismom - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - 7:24 PM

Really enjoy this credit union. The staff is helpful and knowledgable. Rates are way better than anything in my area. They have a five star promise and fulfill it every time I have needed anything. I was having trouble logging into my home banking because I forgot my password and the teller took the time to walk me through everything and show me how to use it to its full potential. Would most definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place that will take care of you.

Taking Money Out Of Janice's Account
- cookie789 - Friday, December 7, 2012 - 5:30 PM

i think you are very unproffesional by taking this money when we never were served papers about garnishment. deosited check on 12/7/2012. went to the atm machine right afterwards and the acoount was o. i don't think you should have taken this money with out notifying us. shame on you.